Best of 2008 List: Reviewer Jayne

Jayne, one of the founding members of Dear Author, is our resident explorer. She goes out and finds the most unusual settings, the most unknown authors, in all different genres, and brings them to our attention. She’s also one of my dearest reading friends. Without her, this blog probably would have died a slow and uninteresting death a long time ago.

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks, Grade A

THE END OF THE ALPHABET by C.S. Richardson, Grade A-

THE SPYMASTER’S LADY by Joanna Bourne, Grade A-

THE TENTH GIFT by Jane Johnson, Grade A-

YOUR SCANDALOUS WAYS by Loretta Chase, Grade A-

HIS SECRET PAST by Ellen Hartman, Grade A-

SHAKEN AND STIRRED by Kathleen O’Reilly, Grade A-

A LADY’S SECRET by Jo Beverly, Grade A-

MYSTIC HORSEMAN by Kathleen Eagle, Grade A-

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Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 20 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there's no TSTL characters and is currently reading very few paranormals.

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My reading twin. I have maybe half of that list but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love that you go out and find some of the more “quieter” books that are worth reading and bringing it to our attention.

Thank you Jayne! I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read any of the books on your list, but I have recently discovered Kathleen Eagle and am slowly working my way through her back list :) I’ve been sitting on This Time Forever for a while…time to bring it out!

orannia, Kathleen Eagle’s backlist is something to behold. TBH, her foray into women’s fiction lost me but with her last two books, she appears to be back in the saddle again. But she’s one of the first romance authors who lured me back into the genre after a long hiatus so she’s got a special place in my reading heart.

Sunita, does Mills and Boon offer ebooks yet? I’ve been checking their website off and on to see if they’ve started. I adore eharlequin.com for the fact that I can go and buy books there long after the print versions would have been pulled from bookstores.

Jayne: Yes, it does, finally! They don’t have that many ebooks yet, probably only six months’ worth, but everything new is issued in paperback and ebook format. The nice thing is that since release dates differ in the UK and the US, there are books that we can’t get yet, like the Medicals before this month, some historicals, and some Modern Heats (which show up as Presents Extra here, but not in any systematic way that I can figure out). For example, some of Jessica Bird’s SSEs are available at M&B in ebook form but not at eHarlequin.

The downside is that they are only doing Adobe PDF (with DRM, of course) right now.

It’s better than it used to be, though! From 2/1 down to 1.5/1. My handy currency converter widget tells me that my Ellen Hartman book cost me $5.70, which is a buck more than it would have on eHarlequin with the discount, but still manageable and way better than the $7 it would have cost last summer. Also, right now they are offering discounts on the previous months’ books (but not the Hartman b/c it’s a January 2009 release), so the prices are almost equivalent.

@ Jane: I hadn’t used DRM’d PDFs until I got the Sony Reader, and they are NOT my favorite format (I too prefer eReader). Reflow capability, my ass. But I like being able to read non-DRM’d PDFs on the Reader, and the various conversion software apps (Stanza and Calibre) do a pretty good job on other formats.

@Ellen: My pleasure! I was so thrilled when I saw it; I rarely visit author websites, so I just kept looking for new books by you and found the M&B this week. May I say that the hero of His Secret Past is one of the most attractive (in every sense) heroes I’ve ever encountered? It’s a good thing my husband is as wonderful as he is, or he’d be in deep trouble.

I also downloaded His Secret Past because it sounded pretty good. I missed the review of it I guess because I can’t recall seeing it. And affirmative- I’m working on a 2008 lists of books I read and enjoyed as we speak. It’s mostly mystery.

Ah, but The End of the Alphabet only takes a little time to read. A little time spent for a wonderful experience. People of the Book will take longer but it’s also time well spent. Be sure to go online and check out pictures of the actual Haggadah – all the ones I found are exquisite.

I did like A Lady’s Secret, but the other two I read on the list (the Brooks and the first of the Joanna Bourne books) were ‘meh’ for me. I think this is my fault – I’m just not in the same place. One of the best books for me this last year was Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, but otherwise, the best books have been non-fiction, primarily history.

ALS was lots of fun, but my favourite romances this year have been Ann Gracie’s Perfect series, which have been lovely, but are by no means new.

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